1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to frozen fresh cream to be whipped, a method for producing the frozen fresh cream, whipped cream, and a method for producing the whipped cream.
2. Description of the Related Art
According to the Ministerial Ordinance on Milk and Milk products Concerning Compositional Standards, etc. in Japan, cream is defined as follows: “cream means the product which is obtained by removal of components other than milk fat from raw milk, cow's milk or special milk.” Also, in the “Compositional Standards and Standards of Storing Condition of Milk Products” of this Ministerial Ordinance, the “Compositional Standards” are defined as follows: “Milk fat content: 18.0% or higher, Acidity (as lactic acid): 0.20% or lower, Bacterial count (per 1 mL by standard plate count method): 100,000 or lower, Coliforms: Negative,” and “Standards of Manufacturing Process” and “Standards of Storing Condition” are also stipulated. Besides these definitions, “fresh” cream has to satisfy the condition that no additives such as vegetable oil and fat and an emulsifying agent are added.
The fresh cream is whipped (hereinafter may be referred to as “beaten” or “foamed”) and then used in, for example, decoration of cakes.
Even when whipping the fresh cream that has been frozen and thawed, the obtained whipped cream is considerably degraded in quality, which is problematic. Thus, it is common knowledge among those skilled in the art to avoid freezing fresh cream to be used for whipped cream (see, for example, Shigeru Sawayama, “Science of Cooking <Analyzing Taste, Material and Processing method> 97 Basic Knowledge on Cream,” Confectionery and Breadmaking, January, 2007, Vol. 73, No. 1, pp. 147-149).
In order to the above-described problems, for example, there has been proposed cream which is produced by homogenizing under a predetermined pressure a raw material containing an emulsifying agent, etc, mixed and which can achieve excellent whip topping regardless of the time when thawed after long-term freezing for storage (see, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) No. 52-79059). However, the above proposed cream contains an emulsifying agent and thus is not fresh cream. In addition, it is degraded in flavor and is against the recent trend toward the use of natural ingredients, which is problematic.
Besides, there has been proposed frozen whipped cream produced by whipping cream and freezing it (see, for example, JP-A No. 58-51864). However, the above proposed frozen whipped cream also contains an emulsifying agent and thus is not fresh cream. In addition, it is degraded in flavor and is against the recent trend toward use of natural ingredients, which is problematic.
Under such circumstances, at present, fresh cream to be whipped is stored and distributed in a state of being refrigerated (3° C. to 10° C.) rather than being frozen.
The recent interest has been focusing on organic foods, reflecting the consumers' trend toward the use of natural ingredients. However, it cannot be said that Japan has a sufficient amount of organic milk required for producing organic fresh cream. As a result, Japan is facing difficulties in producing organic fresh cream. Thus, importing organic fresh cream from foreign countries becomes one possible means.
Here, the storage and the like of fresh cream to be whipped are performed in a state of being refrigerated as described above and thus its freshness date is short, which is a severe problem especially when importing it. There is a strong need to solve this problem.
In Japan, an excess amount of milk produced is disposed of, and some attempts have been made to find a new way to use such milk to be disposed of and effectively utilize it.
Thus, at present, keen demand has arisen for development of frozen fresh cream to be whipped which can be frozen for storage, which is comparable to refrigerated fresh cream in properties of cream after thawed, and which is comparable to whipped cream prepared by whipping refrigerated fresh cream in qualities such as smoothness and melt-in-the-mouth when formed into whipped cream.